


all i've ever needed (is your shoulder to cry on)

by nyckolodeo_n



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-25 14:35:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4964410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyckolodeo_n/pseuds/nyckolodeo_n
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Niall wakes to the sounds of the chorus of Something Big blaring from his phone. He slowly rubs the sleep from his eyes, and groans when he sees 2:12am staring back at him accusingly from his digital clock. He’s going to kill Harry for waking him up so early;</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	all i've ever needed (is your shoulder to cry on)

**Author's Note:**

> as per usual i do not own any members of one direction, blah blah blah.
> 
> Gift for [Sam!](http://niallandharryy.tumblr.com) for being my writing buddy and confidence builder

Niall wakes to the sounds of the chorus of _Something Big_ blaring from his phone. He slowly rubs the sleep from his eyes, and groans when he sees _2:12am_ staring back at him accusingly from his digital clock. He’s going to kill Harry for waking him up so early; class doesn’t start until nearly ten in the morning and Harry knows Niall was planning on getting as much sleep as he could before the first day of classes, because Niall had stupidly set up his schedule so that he had four fucking classes on the first day of the week – he’s absolutely changing that, because there’s no way in hell he’s going to survive his first semester of University with a schedule like that on top of his job and being involved in the Student Activities Council. He’ll die from sleep deprivation and it’ll be the dumbest way to go that Niall will haunt himself in the afterlife.

He ignores the continuation of the song and tries to go back to sleep. He loves Harry with all his heart, don’t get him wrong, but if Niall can’t get back to sleep after he answers this phone call, Niall will end him. The only reason Niall knows that its Harry is because Harry thought he was funny and decided to interpret previously mentioned ringtone as a double entendre and refuses to change his mind on the matter. It’s one of Harry’s dorkier moments, but Niall thinks everything that has to do with Harry is endearing and continues to be fond of said boy to this day. They’d been together since they were awkward kids going through puberty in middle school; everything about Harry made Niall swoon and all of his expressions always held a deep level of fondness behind them, regardless the matter or discussion. He wasn’t even ashamed of it, no matter how many times the boys poked and laughed at them. That’s just how he and Harry were, there was no reason to be ashamed.

The song goes off, and Niall counts to exactly 7 seconds, giving Harry enough time to stare incredulously at his phone since Niall didn’t answer at bloody two in the morning, before the phone rings again. Niall huffs a laugh, reaches for the phone and answers it as he shifts to a more comfortable position, propping his cell between his ear and shoulder. He’s not really that surprised that the call had come, to be honest. Harry’s living in a dorm on campus while Niall lives twenty minutes on the opposite side of town. While they’ve been together as long as they have, not even Niall is willing to get up at the ass-crack of dawn to help Harry get ready for class; which exactly why Harry’s not in Niall’s bed and why they aren’t sharing a dorm or campus housing. They’d agreed that they would wait to get a flat together until they’d been in university a bit longer and had decent enough jobs to pay for the expenses. Moving Harry in had been tiring; the sex that came after had made it worth it.

“Haz, do you have any idea what bloody time it is?” Niall asks, voice still rough since he was _sleeping_ not ten minutes before. “Don’t you have class at eight, why are you up?” It’s not like Harry to put so few hours of sleep in before having to get up at such an early time. Niall is a little bit worried. His fear doubles when he hears sniffling in the background, which is obviously not good. “Babe? What’s wrong, why are you crying?”

“I’m not crying,” Harry says, as petulant as only he can be as he very obviously contradicts himself while he continues to sniffle and hiccup into the speaker. Niall waits; the only way you get something out of Harry is to give him time and space to make the decision to talk to you about whatever it is that’s bothering him. Niall picks at the comforter around his waist and snuggles more deeply into his sheets. It’s exactly three minutes and twenty-eight seconds later when, “I’m so nervous, Ni,” is whispered through the phone, his voice rougher than it had been just moments before. At first Niall doesn’t get it, racks his mind for upcoming events that would cause this kind of panic from his boyfriend, and comes up empty.

Then, it hits him. “Bambi, are you talking about classes tomorrow?” He asks with his voice as lightly and not condescending as he can make it. It makes sense, Harry’s taking a lot of credits this year, and has a lot of good first impressions to make over the next couple of days. Harry’s in on scholarship, as most of the boys are, and if Harry slips under anything that isn’t a ‘B’ in any of his subjects, he loses said scholarship. It’s a full ride, something he can’t afford to lose, and Niall’s never thought about how hard this is going to be for him.

Harry’s family has never been the most financially stable. After his dad left, things had become pretty hard for them. Harry worked two jobs in high school, as did his sister, while also trying to be as involved in school as possible so that his mum wouldn’t have to pay a single penny for him to get the education he wanted at the school he wanted to attend. It had taken a lot out of him, but he was successful, and none of the small amount of money his mum makes will have to go towards his tuition. Niall had never been prouder of Harry than he had in the moment he found out Harry was getting in with the scholarship he had, and to this day that remains one of the happiest memories he’ll ever have embedded in his brain.

Harry’s next harsh breath pulls Niall out of his stupor, and he shushes the curly-haired boy he wishes he could currently be curled around rather than on the other side of the city. For five minutes, Niall whispers sweet things in Harry’s ear, words of encouragement and how proud he is of Harry traveling through the mouthpiece and very obviously helping the boy in question. Harry’s breathing slows, and Niall winces at the idea that Harry’s roommate probably thinks that he’s a child. It’s a rather harsh thing to think, but when you’re thrown into the real world as suddenly as Harry was, sometimes it’s just really hard to not let that side of himself slip away and reveal _the_ boy underneath it all. They’re not really boys, not anymore, but sometimes it’s hard to forget with how sensitive and easily humiliated Harry, and even himself, can get sometimes. Harry’s breathing finally evens out, and Niall let’s out a sigh of relief that tonight wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, that tonight wasn’t a night of nightmares, but a night of just first day of school jitters. One doesn’t have any smaller effect than the other on their victim, but it’s easier to talk Harry out of nerves than it is nightmares.

Harry takes one more calming breath, and that’s when it all comes out.

“This year… It’s just all so important, Ni. The next four years of my life are basically decided for me in how I carry myself and my schoolwork in the next four months. What if I don’t fulfill their expectations? What if I get lost? What if they just decide that they really don’t _need me_ at their school anymore, and they take it all away?” Niall can picture Harry running his hands through his hair as he takes a deep shaky breathe before he continues. “I can’t handle that kind of rejection anymore. This school is the only way I get a job straight out of college, and I can’t afford to lose this kind of opportunity. It’s never going to come to me again, because people like me don’t just _get_ offers like this one all the time. I’m surprised I even got it at all, y’know? And I just can’t lose it, this is all I have.” He takes another breath and hiccups through the phone, obviously done and waiting for Niall’s reaction. Tonight’s not a very good night, so Niall can bet that Harry’s expecting Niall to react badly to add to his list of shit things to happen today.

So Niall takes a breath, and starts;

“Harry, you’re going to do a great job. You’re a hard-working student, and deserve more than anyone to have gotten the scholarship and opportunity you were offered. There isn’t a single attribute about you that makes you unworthy of receiving the award they gave you, and I won’t hear another word about it. They’re not going to get rid of you and they’re not going to change their minds. You’re exactly what this school needs to get their music program to go in the direction they want to take it, and that’s exactly why you got what you got. You worked really hard and very consistently to get where you are now and want to be in the future, and I am very proud of everything you’ve ever accomplished since I met you all those years ago.”

Harry sobs out a breath, “Niall.”

_“Also,”_ Niall talks right over him; he won’t get another word in otherwise, “you, Harry Edward Styles, are not alone in this. This school will never be all you have, because you will always, and I mean _always,_ have _me._ I have been your best friend since first grade and have dated you for five years now, and I’m not going anywhere. Through all the bad days and hard projects and temper tantrums you’re going to throw; through the days you want to cry your eyes out and give up because you’re tired or running on fumes and don’t feel like you can do it anymore, I will be there for you. Every time. I love you, Haz, and I will stay by your side, through thick and thin, through good and bad, and I will make sure that you always know that you are deserving of anything you get in life. This school is not your father, Harry. You are nothing like your father said you were and this, you getting into college on a _full ride_? This proves just how wrong he was, and I will spend every ounce of breath I have proving that to you, if I have to.” Niall takes a deep breath and plans to continue on when Harry beats him to it.

“I love you, too. Fuck, I love you, too, Ni. And I know I’m nothing like my father, because if I was I _wouldn’t_ even have youhere with me to help me through times like these. And I know that all of my feelings right now are just nerves getting the better of me, but you know I can’t help it.” He pauses, and Niall can tell that there’s a smile on the other boy’s face by the tone he uses when he says, “I’m just glad you answered the phone. I’m sitting in the bloody bathtub for this call, and it’s very uncomfortable.” Niall laughs, but it sounds more choked than he meant for it to, not realizing that he’s had tears streaming down his face this whole time. He wipes at his face and smiles, though Harry can’t see it.

“You’re going to do great tomorrow, Haz. You’re going to not only meet their expectations, but make such a good first impression that they’ll have to set new ones. You’re going to be a star at this school and I’ve never been more proud of you for all of the things you’ve done, ok?” He rolls over on his side, promptly ignoring the glaring numbers that he faces as he does so. “You’re not going to do _anyone_ any good, though if you don’t get some goddamn sleep, Harry. Bloody ridiculous, you are, making phone calls at arse-o’clock in the morning when you have to be up for class in four hours.” He keeps his tone light, and Harry laughs at him. Niall can hear him getting out of the tub, the cracking of his muscles and the cramps he undoubtedly has are muted, but Niall knows they’re there. Harry’s very prone to forgetting that he’s got giraffe-like legs that don’t belong cramped in small ass places. The faucet turns on and Niall knows he’s on speaker while Harry splashes his face, so he hums softly and knows it has the effect he wanted it to have, because Harry harmonizes along in the background.

“Thanks, Ni,” Harry says after he’s finished, and Niall chuckles, because there’s nothing he cares about more in the world than Harry’s health and wellbeing and just _Harry._ “I never would have made it where I am today without you. I’m going to try and sleep now that I’ve talked to you. Love you,” he says and quickly hangs up. Niall laughs more outright now, because no matter how long they’ve been together, Harry always likes being the last one to say those words no matter what situation they’re in or where they are.

He puts his phone back on the bedside table, making sure his alarm is set and the charger is attached. He shuffles back and forth in the sheets a little, trying to regain the comfort he had before he’d answered the phone call. He ends up on his right side, facing a picture of him and Harry that he’d gotten as a gift for graduation from Louis that had been blown up to poster size with better resolution. They’re at the park, Niall’s head on Harry’s back as Harry lays on his stomach and rights lyrics and Niall plays around on his guitar. They had written this song together for the music class they shared and had gotten the highest mark in the class for it. They look content, like they were made for each other and made for opportunities like this one when they came around, however rare it was. It’s one of Niall’s favorite pictures that they have together, because it was taken at a time that was really hard for Harry to have time to relax and let himself be happy, and in this picture he is very clearly both. Niall smiles to himself as he nuzzles further into the blankets and closes his eyes.

_“I love you, too,”_ he whispers into the dark as he falls back into sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out the fic exchange that sam and i are putting together.  
> tumblr: [here](http://stylanficexchange.tumblr.com)  
> ao3 page: [here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/StylanHolidayFicExchange/profile#rules)  
> [me](http://hauntedstylan.tumblr.com)


End file.
